“Uhm.” I look up from my book. “I guess that depends.”
“On?”
“What kind of element are you talking about? The periodic table?”
My dad and I hunted and trapped any animal we could come across for weeks. We saved all the fur we could. It was winter, so the meat could stay frozen. When we had fifteen dried skins, Dad went away for a day. When he came back, he smiled at Mother. Mother smiled at me. Soon, they were both smiling at me, and my skin started to itch.
Dad had traded with a man named Tahoe Lake. He traded the furs and some of the meat for salt. And Tahoe Lake would be my teacher for any ten days I wanted. Two weeks! I never felt so rich as I did when my dad told me I could learn anything I wanted.
For two straight weeks, Monday through Friday, and Monday through Friday again, I trudged to the school in thawing snow.
Mr. Tahoe, as he let us students call him, told us, before the apocalypse, kids in school had to learn everything. He didn’t have that kind of time. He would spend time with each of us, every day, teaching us the things we wanted to learn. I liked math and science. So did his daughter, Crystal. Out of the little squirrels we caught, I made hats for both of them as a thank you.
“Haley.” I shake my head and make myself focus on my dad. “I asked you a question.”
“Helium.”
“I think you’re going to like this.”
He takes something floppy and red out of his pocket. He puts the open end on a weird can and then it hisses! The floppy red thing grow bigger and bigger until it finally stops. Then he ties the end, and ties a piece of string around it – and it floats!
“That’s helium! Oh, oh, oh, you made me a balloon!”
“What’s the second element, Haley?”
“Uhm.” I look up from my book. “I guess that depends.”
“On?”
“What kind of element are you talking about? The periodic table?”
My dad and I hunted and trapped any animal we could come across for weeks. We saved all the fur we could. It was winter, so the meat could stay frozen. When we had fifteen dried skins, Dad went away for a day. When he came back, he smiled at Mother. Mother smiled at me. Soon, they were both smiling at me, and my skin started to itch.
Dad had traded with a man named Tahoe Lake. He traded the furs and some of the meat for salt. And Tahoe Lake would be my teacher for any ten days I wanted. Two weeks! I never felt so rich as I did when my dad told me I could learn anything I wanted.
For two straight weeks, Monday through Friday, and Monday through Friday again, I trudged to the school in thawing snow.
Mr. Tahoe, as he let us students call him, told us, before the apocalypse, kids in school had to learn everything. He didn’t have that kind of time. He would spend time with each of us, every day, teaching us the things we wanted to learn. I liked math and science. So did his daughter, Crystal. Out of the little squirrels we caught, I made hats for both of them as a thank you.
“Haley.” I shake my head and make myself focus on my dad. “I asked you a question.”
“Helium.”
“I think you’re going to like this.”
He takes something floppy and red out of his pocket. He puts the open end on a weird can and then it hisses! The floppy red thing grow bigger and bigger until it finally stops. Then he ties the end, and ties a piece of string around it – and it floats!
“That’s helium! Oh, oh, oh, you made me a balloon!”